Condition 1
by Darkknight343
Summary: The Cylons have attacked. Earth is in danger again. Galactica led them here, but has also given them the tools to survive. 60 years after Galactica came to Earth, the Terrans have used her designs as a template for their own fighting ships. Will it be enough?
1. Prologue

Prologue

60 years ago, the Galactica crawled to Earth and set down. That was 2010. They were greeted by representatives of the UN and were welcomed into our society. Soon, it was discovered they were human, like us. Their story became public shortly after. The Cylon threat was identified, and the general population panicked quickly fearing invasion and subjugation by this robotic race. NATO quickly realised the massive threat to life as we know it, and built bridges with Russia, China and other non-NATO countries. At an emergency UN summit in 2011 Admiral Adama spoke out to all the nation's for the first time and offered his crews help in readying them against this threat. This summit then produced the second worldwide treaty of cooperation, in order to exploit the new technology aboard Galactica. Thus, with virtually every country on earth a member, the Sol System Defence Pact was formed which essentially united the nation's of Earth. Borders were opened, and old rivalries stamped out. Crises in places like the middle east and Africa suddenly and violently ended, as the SSDP focussed on securing the home front. Africa was chosen for the main shipyard and production facilities, because of its immense size and relatively low levels of urbanisation. There were also sites in Siberia, Australia, Canada and Mongolia. All countries and regions that offered large, uninterrupted swathes of land for industry. And thus began the greatest revolution since the industrial revolution. 100% of humanity's resources were put into building the shipyards. When, in 2025, they were finally constructed, they were as tall as skyscrapers and as large as a small city. Each one could build a Battlestar of any class within 8-12 months, depending on size. Africa housed over 8. 2026 saw the first ships go into production. They would be equipped with the same weapons as Galactica, fuelled the same way. Tylium, as it turns out, is more than plentiful in the asteroids near Mars. By the time the first Battlestar was ready, the Indomitable, in 2027, there were already ships in space using FTL drives and Galactica style engines. Ciphers and Raptor were also built.

2030\. There are now 8 battlestars in service. There are a dozen support frigates and destroyers as well. Now humanity waited, and watched the infinite black. The crew of Galactica trained the new recruits but stayed on Earth, living their lives out. They had done their time.

2032\. The first conflict. Cylons were detected jumping into the system. The hopped from Saturn to Earth. 3 basestars were destroyed within the first 15 minutes. The final ship fled. So began the first Cylon-Terran war.

2050\. The war ends with the retreat of the Cylons. They are pushed out of Alpha Centauri, which had been their staging area. This system is the first to be taken by the Terrans. Soon it becomes a major military base, with reconnaissance stations always watching.

2058\. Mars is halfway terraformed. No longer red for the most part, and now contains semi artificial oceans. Wildlife has been introduce. Mining operations now encompass the whole system, and Alpha Centauri is being prospected for resources.

2070\. The old enemy returns, bigger and badder than ever. Resist or be exterminated. The enemy are at the gates.

 ** _Author notes_**

 ** _Hi, the setting may seem similar, mostlybecause for me the original War for Sol was more like a... test. Write a bit, see what it was like, improve, write again. Now that I've had time to read it a few times, I can see my mistakes and successes. This will be very similar, but better written and hopefully there will be more content. Thanks for your support and patience! :)_**


	2. Chapter 1- Nav point bravo

Chapter 1- Nav point Bravo

The 'Atterwick' was a County class battlestar. County class battlestars are an older model, no longer in production but still considered fighting fit. Built in 2060, and leaving drydock in 2061, she is a reasonably modern ship, incorporating many advances from the old Galactica class models. It is of comparable shape, about a quarter longer, and slightly wider. The docking bays are single tier like Galacticas', But the decks feature many enhancements chief among these is a magnetization system which draws ships which are landing into the deck. Useful in crash landings and the like. Atterwick carries 8 flak cannons on the top on the main section, and 8 on the bottom, with an additional 4 on the bow in an above/below configuration mounted on rails allowing them to be moved around the front of the ship 360°. So that if more guns are needed on the top, these frontal weapons can be reassigned to the top of the 'gator' head. The point defence systems have been maintained in very similar patterns to Galacticas.

One massive tactical change is the advent of smart ship-to-ship missiles. Atterwick carries one of these missile deployment systems. From the rear area, on the top of the ship and near the engines, there are 10 missile pods. These, when activated, prop up at 45° angles and fire 1 missile each at the intended target. Each missile is capable of destruction comparable to a tactical nuke. Atterwick carries 4 squads of Vipers (Alpha, Bravo, Charlie and Delta) and 2 squads of Raptors (X-Ray and Zulu). A viper squad consists of 4 Viper Mk lllls and 1 command viper, with each Raptor squad consisting of 4 Raptors. Alpha, bravo and X-ray deploy from the port flightpod, with Charlie, delta and Zulu deploying from starboard.

Hopefully that filled you in on the ship, and fuelled some of your desire for tech.

The Atterwick drifted through space, it's engines burning bright blue trails through the inky blackness. To the left the sun shone onto it, revealing its armour plating of silver coloured material, a metal alloy also a product of Galacticas return. The flak guns were dormant, pointing forwards and backwards. A Viper burst alongside it, producing smaller blue from its triple engine system. The pilot rolled it lazily, completing a 360° rotation. Another Viper appeared on its right wing, pulling up from below Atterwick. They quickly propelled themselves far ahead of the battlestar, and began pulling to the right. Below them, a planet. Jupiter. The vipers continue on their way, moving over the planet in an orbit. Soon Atterwick is but a small speck in the distance.

"Atterwick, this is Bravo, comm check over." The first pilot spoke into her helmet, looking up and out of her cockpit. Nothing, just stars.

"Roger that, comms are loud and clear Typhoon. Please continue to nav point Beta, out." The viper suddenly rolled to the right. Jupiter filled the cockpit view. There we go Claire thought. Something to look at while they flew.

The comm crackled into life again. "Hey Typh'? " It was her so wingman. "Nice view ain't it?"

"Sure is." She replied, looking at the broiling storms on the planet's surface. She glanced down at her DRADIS scanner. "Ok heads up, nearing the nav point now. Looks like there's a mining ship up ahead, shouldn't be any trouble. Move in."

The two vipers screamed towards the point as they both their throttles. Blue trails glowed fiercely as they pushed the engines even more. The mining ship was moving past them, and they pushed past it about 50 Km away. It was a small probe, it'd have maybe 3 people on board. They reached the nav point quickly, now on the dark side of the planet. Their engines stopped, and RCS thrusters spat into life, pushing the craft into stationary positions.

"Ok.. link suites... power it up... begin scanning." Claire said casually. Remotely, the two pilots linked their DRADIS for increased range and power. Five scans, six, then seven.

"Ok Henry. Unlink. No contacts." Henry confirmed and they unlinked.

"Bravo, Atterwick come in."

Atterwick responded. "Atterwick Actual. Report Typh."

"Sir, no sign of the corvette Hetla, there's nothing here. Diddly squat. Zilch... please advise over."

There was a brief pause before Claire's comm spurred into life. "Roger that. Come on home. We'll see if Atterwick can see anything when we arrive. Atterwick Actual out."

"You heard the man. Let's bring it home." The vipers spun around then primed their engines and shot off into the night.

As she emerged around the curve of Jupitor, Atterwick was clearly visible as she blocked out the sun. It was a phenomenal sight, or would be for somebody who wasn't a viper pilot. They neared the port docking bay. She signalled her approach with the air traffic controller, as did Henry. Predictably they were the only two up there, for now. She flew towards the deck, aiming the nose down gently. Her hand reached down and pulled the gear release, letting the 3 skids slam down into their ready positions. Looking to the right, she could see Henry doing the same. Now she was less than 100 metres out, the magnetic deck pulled her down, allowing for an easy landing that was almost like a helicopter landing. She gently hit the deck, skidding slightly. A large, tracked tug quickly appeared to tow the Vipers to elevators and into the flight deck where they would be checked for damage and refuelled.

CIC

Commander Lucas Williams was slouched over the central command console (CCS) which had a DRADIS display and 2D map. He was surrounded by the CIC, with officers reading and relaying data and information to other officers, all of which was fed to the commander and XO. Lucas was a younger commander, in his 30s. He was proud, and walked chin up, straight backed as the RAF had taught him when he was young. He wore the uniform of the SSDP, a dark blue garb, with a lighter blue trim. On his right arm was sewn a patch, which depicted a battlestar flying through space, beneath which was written TN Atterwick- Fortiter in sacrificium. He had Commanders pips on his collar which shone a dull, gun metal grey. The XO, Colonel Jarrell Corbin was older than Lucas, in his 40s. This lead to him being much rougher on the men than Lucas was. He was from Canada, and used this as a tool of deception as when anyone heard he was from Canada, they assumed he would be nice. They were wrong.

"Sir, Bravo have landed on the deck." The report, with a strong German accent, came from the officer of the bridge, Miss Hahn.

Lucas nodded at her slightly by way of response before going back to the CCS.

"Somethings not right here Jarrell. They're meant to be here, we Should have picked em up by now."

The XO walked away from the station where he was grilling a terminal officer for getting a report incorrect. "I agree. Doesn't make sense. Not even and debris. We Should go to alert."

Lucas grunted, smirking. "Always think the worst. You're right unfourtuantly. Do it."

Jarrell snorted. "It's called being a realist." He turned to Miss Hahn. "Set condition 2 throughout the ship!" Hahn quickly relayed the order through the telephone-intercom and klaxons soon blared out across the ship.

The entire crew snapped into readiness. The corridors were suddenly filled with men and women jogging to their alert positions. Pilots sprinted headlong towards the ready room, eager to receive their orders and objectives. Marines appeared at key sections, weapons lockers, power junctions,the CIC guard was reinforced and the flight decks were closely guarded. Specialist Ramirez, from Mexico, was working on a Vipers KEWs (kinetic energy weapons, AKA cannons) when the alert sounded. She reached for the toolbox as she was lieing on her back, and grabbing a spanner fixed a plate into position, sealing the firing chamber. She cleared her tools, and rolled out from under the wing. The strike craft were being readied to go into launch tubes, so she signalled to the deckcrew that the viper was fighting fit and stepped aside. They jacked the Viper up onto a mechanized trolley and wheeled it to align to launch tube 7. She clapped her hands together and dumped her equipment into the toolbox, carrying the small red container towards a couple deck hands who were having trouble with a Raptors' ECM systems.

"You're gonna break it like that... " she said derisively. "Let me do it... now watch."

Ramirez climbed atop the large craft and gripped the circular dome on the very top. It needed to be screwed in, but the deck hands had locked it on too early and now it was stick. She stripped the top casing off, and flipped the emergency release. It was then, effortlessly, screwed on and locked in.

"See that? Don't let me catch you making that mistake again or chief'll hear about it." They nodded as she stepped off and continued on with her toolbox. The two deck hands finished off, locking it into position correctly.

Back in the CIC, DRADIS scanners showed they had now reached the nav point.

"Mr Kirk, begin scanning operations. Miss Hahn, be ready to go to condition 1 at a moment's notice. Colonel, let's see what's out there." Lucas gave concise and clear instructions to bis officers, preferring not to confuse them or slow reaction time. Kirk was the DRADIS officer, and was charged with calling out contacts and operating the more advanced systems, he talked with a strong Yorkshire accent.

"No contacts sir. Continuing scan." The CIC was eerily quiet. The calm before the storm, Lucas thought. The DRADIS scanner was the only sound in the room other than breathing and keyboards clicking. Corbin and Williams stared at each other over the CCS table, both equally stern faced. This was something they hadn't been counting on.

"This was meant to be a simple in-out op." Jarrel said looking up at DRADIS then down at the table.

"I know." Lucas responded flatly. People were listening, he didn't want them to think about a missing ship right now. Just as Jarrel was responding, DRADIS beeped harshly and a red symbol appeared on the scanner, reading "Unkown".

"DRADIS contact! Unknown, bearing 087 carom 128, distance 1,000km. Stationary. "

"Set condition one throughout the ship. Colonel, launch Alpha and Charlie squadrons. I want eyes on ASAP." The XO quickly relayed the instructions to the squadrons, ordering them to take position in defence of Atterwick and get a visual. "Have our guns get a firing solution now!"

Hahn nodded and began speaking into her headset while staring at a screen. "Helm! Give us a starboard broadside position. Give top and bottom guns the best chance of hitting."

Atterwick moved to the left, and rolled the same direction. The bearing of the object was now 090, carom 000. The main guns turned slowly, and aimed directly at the unknown contact, ready to propel explosives at the ship to destroy or disable it. The point defence guns mounted throughout the hull readied a firing solution for the flak wall. Vipers were pushed into space from the docking bays, Alpha squad launching straight at the ship and Charlie hanging back as a picket defence.

Alpha squadron

The 5 vipers left the tell-tale blue trails through space as they accelerated towards their target. The Commander air group or CAG flew as squad lead of Alpha. Sven was the senior pilot aboard Atterwick and as per Terran navy policy led from the front. They neared the object.

"All units this is Sven, or as you know me by now 'Viking'. Ready up, safeties off. Let's see what's what guys." The vipers got visual contact. It was the corvette alright, but split in two. The front sphere section led to a rectangle, connected by 3 triangular corridors which were now all broken. The front it was clear Had no atmosphere. A hole the size of a raptor took up was clearly visible, especially seeing as the ship was half the size of one of Atterwocks landing pods. The story was similar in the rear section.

"Atterwick, Viking. We found the Hysteros. She's dead, and depressurized. I'm picking up traces of explosions, I think ordnance detonation. This was an attack sir. Over."

"Hopper, Atterwick actual. Roger that. Our preliminary supports THAT claim. Standby, beginning SAR operations. X-Ray to conduct. Out." Sven patched through to his squad and spoke into his helmet comm. "Listen up. X-Ray inbound for search and rescue op. We just gotta keep an eye out. "A chorus of affirmations came in and the squad took up positions, their vipers almost nonchalantly drifting into their defence formation through the RCS thrusts.

A minute later, X-Ray had arrived. The four Raptors quickly neared the corvette and scanned it. No heat signatures, no atmosphere.

"Attwrwick, Sven, raptors are tellin' me there's nothing here. No atmosphere or heat. Over."

"Roger. Wait one."

A ship appeared above them, massive and unmistakably star shaped. Three prongs on top, the prongs beneath. A basestar. Another appeared to the right of it, then a third jumped in to the left slightly below.

"Sven. Get back here. Now. Get X-Ray back."

The vipers and captors turned tail and opened their throttles. They pushed their engines to breaking point,. Raiders poured from the basestars, at least 100. As they got closer to Atterwick, Sven saw the flak wall burst into life, incandescent yellow flashes lighting up the black space. Missiles screeched in towards the battlestar, exploding upon impact with the wall in large, blue sparks. A few got through in the first wave, smashing into the ship and scraping off armour plates. The raptors were too slow. Raiders were catching up to them. Sven turned his comm on.

"Ok, we've got to beat a fighting withdrawal. Give the raptors time to get to Atterwick. Turn and engage!"

The vipers halted, and flipped 180° degrees. The raiders were 500 metres out. Sven saw the first one in his sights, the helmet projecting a HUD complete Sith crosshairs. He split it in two with a quick burst, the two curved sections spiralling away either side. His wingman had similar luck, though number 3 Was hit in the wing.

"3 pull out, you're venting tylium. Get back with the raptors." They were down to 4 now. Sven iced another with relative ease, then another. A fourth raider pounced on him from behind and punched a round straight through his right wing, blowing that KEW up and detonating some ammo. One stray bullet cooked off and shot straight up through his cockpit. He checked his legs as he dove. No breaches in the suit good. Checking his comms he shouted into the helmet. "Pull out! Get through the flak wall, emergency procedures. " The squad pulled back, in full retreat. Number 5, a pilot named Antonio from Italy, saw a raider move in to attack Sven. He fired a missile and blew it to scrap in 2 seconds. Another strafed Antonio however, and blew the cockpit section apart. The wings flew off in either direction then detonated as the guns were jammed and exploded.

"Crap! Come on..." Sven screamed, not even into his comm. Finally they reached the flak wall. Advanced systems detected friendly ships, and diverted ordnance away for seconds allowing them through but not the pursuing raiders who were blown to bits as they tried to kill their targets. Not a single viper was unscathed in Aplha, and Charlie suffered a casualty as the fended off more raiders. Alpha landed quickly on the starboard hanger. Their vipers would have to be moved via the internal rail system at some point to the correct side of the ship, but that could wait. Alpha landed around X-ray, all of whom had arrived safely.

CIC

Flak guns pounded away, assisting the wall. Point defence sought missiles and blew them fast. "Mr Kirk, how long till the FTL is spun up?" Jarrell asked.

"30 seconds sir." He responded. Missiles hit the ship.

"Luc, we can't hold off 3 baseships for much longer. We've already lost 2 cannons and a dozen point defence guns. Not to mention 2 vipers. "

"Why do you think we're spinning up the FTL drive? We'll hop to Earth and report in. "

The colonel grunted again. "Roger that." He walked over and began looking at a terminal that displayed the current firing solutions and flak wall.

"5...4...3..All hands, prepare for jump. 1. Jump." Kirk said as he initiated the FTL.

 ** _Hey! Now to answer a couple questions. This takes place 70 years after Galactica arrived on earth. It's safe to assume, and I have hinted to, most characters we knew and loved to be dead. Sorry to be so blunt but yano. As for the rebel basestar, that will yet be explained, and may or may not play a role in a future chapter._**

 ** _On a Side note, I'm glad this story has attracted so much attention already! As you can see, I'm working on longer chapters which is a change and will take some getting used to but will, hopefully, make the story just generally longer and better. Obviously they take longer to write but be patient! I hope you find as much enjoyment reading this, as I do writing it. Thank you for your support!_**


	3. Chapter 2-Apple's and oranges

Chapter two- Apple's and oranges

The Atterwick appeared in earth space. Autonomously her friend/foe signature was read, and accepted. The gun platforms nearest the moon's spaceportstood down. There were some 200 of them, all carrying 2 cannons and a half dozen point defence weapons, some had missiles as well. They surrounded earth in a incredibly well defended web, that would shoot down any projectile hurled at earth short of an asteroid the size of Mexico. Atterwick, as per fleet regulation, had jumped 50km away from the moon's spaceport. Ships port supplies to and from the moon constantly, which serves as the gateway to the solar system. The spaceport is the size of New Zealand, give or take. It contains large air locks for docking ships, but drydocks for repairs and the like are located on the surface of the moon. These are the same as the ones on earth, and are used more frequently due to the relative ease with which a ship can be constructed in a low gravity environment vs earths gravity. This is not to say ships are no longer built on earth at all,they are just constructed elsewhere when able to. There are 6 shipyards on the moon, making a single battlestar takes a shipyard somewhere in the region of 8 months, provided materials and labour arrive on time and there are no delays.

CIC

"Miss Hahn, check us in. Helm, dock us at the spaceport ASAP." Lucas directed the crew, then took the speaker system in his hand. "Stand down crew. We are back at earth. We have just fought the first battle of the 2nd Cylon war. Well done." The crew in the CIC smiled and looked at each other over their terminals, a few clapping and laughing.

"A bit premature Commander." Jerrall said, walking over to stand by him near the CCS at the centre of the room. "We Should get the Admiral on the horn, she'll want to know about this if this was the start." Lucas nodded, shrugging off this oversight on his part quickly.

"Miss Hahn, get the admiral on the comm. Me and the XO need to give her a mission report." Hahn nodded, before going back to talking into her headset. A few minutes of movement in the CIC followed, people handed reports to the XO and commander, which were then compiled into a single mission report. Only vital information was included for the admiral, times, dates, casualties and kills.

Flight deck

Ramirez heard the announcement and smiled thinly. Good news, no doubt, but two pilots hadn't come back. Plus, the remaining 4 vipers of Alpha squad were damaged, number 3 badly. 2 of Charlie's vipers had been hit, the other two were just scratches. Sven's viper was wheeled into a bay, the sides of the ship were marked with glancing hits. The cockpit had a hole in the glass, where a shot Had gone straight up, between his legs and rough the glass. He was lucky. The cockpit opened, and Ramirez ran over to help him out, grasping his arm and yanking him our of the viper.

"You're one lucky son of a bitch you know that right?" She asked, shaking her head.

"Is it luck, or skill?" He replied slapping her on the shoulder.

"Luck. Definitely luck, I mean I've seen your flying. I do have to patch your fighter back together every time you break the damn thing." At this he stepped off the wing and walked off laughing. "Whatver you say Rammy!"

"I hate that name!" She shouted after him.

The specialist had look at the damage. The round Had punched clean through the ship. Hadn't splintered at all, otherwise it would have surely hit more vital systems. As it was, it jammed one KEW and took out a couple RCS thrusters. It'd be a hard fix, and she'd need some help, but it wasn't impossible at all. Grabbing the toolbox, she slipped underneath to assess the damage. It looked worse than it was.

Ready room

The pilots of Alpha, Charlie and x-ray filed into the room. Sven was already there, standing at the lectern style stand. As they all took their seats, Sven looked at them sadly.

"We lost a couple guys out there today. We had our first combat. We fought the first battle. So I know, it's been a tough day. But what the frak was that out there? Charlie, you ducked away too early and one of your team was tagged because of it. Never pull out before you have to. Alpha, we lost one of ours. You know why? We weren't covering eachothers wings. Everybody just went for kills. Guess what people? This is NOT a simulation! We aren't fighting to get more kills than your wingman. You're fighting to save him for God's sake. Now, we're gonna be doing training drills first chance we get so stay tuned. For now, dismissed." He finished, standing stock still as they filed out the way they came amid grumbling and the occasional swear. Sven shook his head. He was right, they were glory seekers. But that was becauss they hadn't seen a real battle, most of what they'd done so far amounted to policing and patrolling. Not a single, real dog fight. Well, there'd be plenty to come he suspected. Viking rangers a hand through his short blond hair, and adjusting his uniform walked out following the other pilots,daydreaming of his house back home, in Norway.

Lucas' quarters

Lucas sat in his large armchair. Infornt was a neat and squared away wooden desk. A lamp upon it gave the desk a yellowish tinge. The intercom blared, then blared again. He sighed, and picked up the phone from the wall to his right.

"Williams. What is it?" He asked.

"Sir. Admiral Harding on the line. Asking for a mission report."

Subconsciously Lucas nodded. "Patch her through, thanks Hotaru." The line crackles for a second, then changed frequency. A less clear signal came through.

"William? Hello?" A females voice, quite old, sounded throughout the phone.

"Hello Admiral. Reporting in."

A pause. "Ok, I hear you have important news..? Care to share?" She asked, a smile in her voice.

"The corvette was destroyed. No survivors. Then, our SAR op was interrupted. By 3 Cylon basestars. All Intel gathered during the fight has been sent to you already, all technical specs on their equipment. We need to react ma'am." The line was deathly silent.

"Cylons... Jesus. You did well getting back to us... at Jupiter? Well dammit. Ok I'm going to have to go. Expect an email packet with new orders and assignments within the hour. Admiral Harding out." The line went totally dead this time and Lucas hung the phone up and took out a glass bottle of whiskey and poured. It was gonna be a long hour.

Lucas left his quarters and made his way to the CIC after about 30 minutes. He walked into the room, which glowed blue from the various monitors and terminals within. The XO was leaning on a terminal looking at a munitions report. "We need to get to a repair station Luc. Got some guns down, lucky hit from a couple missiles. Shouldn't take longer than an hour to hammer out, we can replace our vipers too. "

Lucas nodded, adding a get it done. "I want us able to leave within the hour. Fully armed or not." Jerrals eyes narrowed and he nodded.

"Sir, Admiral Harding has sent you an Email packet with mission details. We have 2 hours." Miss Hahn relayed the information, imitating her commanders way of talking.

"Hear that Colonel, 2 hours." The CIC burst into activity as they began to move towards a shipyard under the XOs' instructions.

"Sir, the Admiral has just ordered a war footing for the SSDP. We'll be receiving 4 more squads of vipers plus replacements and 2 more squads of raptors. Effectively doubling our fighter wing. We'll also be getting a second salvo of missiles sir." Miss Hahn told her commander. It was true then, they were at war. Lucas walked over to his private terminal in the CIC, at one end of the central table and logged on using his password and finger print. He read the mission details in the email. They were good, a decent mission. They were to attach to BSG 42 at Mars and attack the basestars that hit Atterwick over Jupiter. The basestar fleet, codename Kappa, should be over Jupiter in 3 hours. This gave everyone enough time to be ready.

2 hours later

"Ok, all repairs and rearming complete. We have just received Echo through Hotel squads and Sierra and Uniform raptors are aboard." Mr Kirk reported in to the XO.

"Helm, prep for jump." Lucas ordered.

"All boards green sir." Miss Hahn responded.

"Jump us to Mars."

"Jumping in 5... 4... 3..."

Lucas looked at the DRADIS scanner, showing the shipyards and dozens of fighting ships. There he could see the battlestar Hellas cruising away from the moon, 2 firestars patrolling. A squadron of vipers were shown, moving across their bow.

"2..."

Ramirez saw the 2 deckhands screwing the ECM dome onto a raptor. They were doing it right this time, taking their time. She smirked. It made her proud for some reason.

Sven added the pilots Bobby and Jaz to the memorial wall near the ready room. They were the first names to go up there. They wouldn't be the last. He sighed.

Mr Kirk took a deep breath. Miss Hahn smiled encouragingly at him, and he smiled back.

The XO stared at Lucas over the central table. He nodded at the man, his face beginning to get older through the stress of command.

"1... jump!" The ship disappeared from earth space, and reappeared over Mars.


	4. Chapter 3- Courage in Sacrifice

Chapter 3- Courage in Sacrifice

Mars. The red planet was not so red anymore. Terraforming over decades with the most experimental and cutting edge technology has led to it becoming blue, and greener. It is still mostly covered in desert environment, but oasis' exist and large cities thrive. Over the next decade the planet is set to have much more diversity, and to mimic earth as much as possible. The oceans are vast but shallow,not having Had time to erode down a great deal at all. Terraforming has also had a detrimental effect on tectonic activity leading to frequent earthquakes. The residents of Mars are constantly assured they are set back,and will subside within a few years. Atmosphere was and is the most difficult part. The correct make up of oxygen-nitrogen, not too thick an outer layer, not too thin etc etc. The Atterwick and her crew didn't give a damn right now. They orbited slowly, the blue of their engines barely leaving a trail. Then, not 10 seconds after they arrived, 2 more ships jumped in. Then another 3, and the final 1 after that.

Right on time Lucas thought, standing at the CCS, the DRADIS showing the 2 other battlestars, 2 frigates and 2 destroyers.

"Sir, getting TN transponder signals. Ships reporting in. Battlestar Pacifica reporting in, along with Battlestar Europa. The frigates Paris and Caen checking in too, destroyers Hercules and Persues here as well. That's all accounted for sir, according to this checklist." Mr Kirk concluded, reading off the DRADIS and his terminal.

"Ok. Have them take up arrow formation on us, line up both sides as follows- Frigate, Battlestar, destroyer. Get It done Miss Hahn. XO, tactical appraisal." They walked up to one side of the CIC where a glass display stood horizontally, facing the rest of the room. It was a battlespace coordination screen, and would be used during the fight as a back up for DRADIS and to show a bigger, more strategic picture. They were essentially cut off from the rest of the crew here, and could talk freely.

"What classes of ships do we have here?" He asked once they arrived, moving over the the glass with a marker pen, and drawing a crude top down battlestar and labelling it Atterwick- County class.

"Well, we've got 2 Continent class Battlestars. They're big and bad, plenty of heavy cannons. They're about 1.5 times the size of us, their docking bays are top and bottom config. Less missiles mind, less flak too but almost double our fighters." The XO said, taking the pen and doing the same for Pacifica and Europa, putting them in a 'V' with Atterwick. "Then, we've got two Paris class frigates. They have crap tonnes of flak and heavy cannons, but no missile systems.. They're older ships, only a squad of vipers and raptors each. They'll take beating but they're only half our size, probably smaller." He proceeded to add these in, between Atterwick and the continent class battlestars. "Now finally, we got the heavy hitters. 2 Pantheon class destroyers. Missiles, and lots of them. Most modern missile systems you can imagine. Variable yield, much more powerful than the pieces of shit we have on board. They suffer through a lack of cannons and flak. Literally none, they use point defence missiles to take out incoming threats, much less messy than what we do. I suppose they're the future though. They can take many hits though, but they're faster than us and only about the size of one of our hangers." He finished, adding the last two ships in the last bit of the 'V'. Lucas nodded throughout, thinking of his battle plan. At least three baseships, but who knew how many more support craft. There might even be more basestars lurking around Jupiter. He'd have to be careful.

"We'll deploy in 3 groups. Atterwick and Paris will go in front, they wanna be below us. Now, Hercules, Perseus and... Caen will make up group 2. They will split off to the right flank, go in fast as possible. Group 3 leaves the continent class battlestars. Now, while Atterwick is drawing their fire, group 2 will be flying round, keeping their distance to hit them in the rear. Group 3 is going to his them from above. They'll hit the Cylons with their bow cannons, while group 2 shoves all the missiles up their collective asses. Opinion, Jarral?" He looked shocked.

"Well... I thought we were just gonna shove our cannons down their throat until they all went kaboom. But sure. That'll work too I bet. I'll get Hahn and Kirk to tell the captain's, and fill them in on the plan. Be ready in 5 minutes sir!" He saluted, snapping his heals in smartly and walked off. His loud voice could already be heard, like a conducted shouting at the orchestra in the minutes before they went on stage. It was a risky plan, normal strategy would dictate swapping groups 1 and 3 around, send the biggest and hardest ships in first. But he wanted to mess with the cylons, hold back his best cards. Hopefully, it'd take the other ships a mere 3 minutes to get into position and then make contact with the enemy. By the time the enemy commander realised he'd deployed his ships at the weaker element it'd be too late for him. If, it went according to plan that is. It was a gamble, but Hell. This'd be promotion worthy.

He strode back to the CCS. The colonel had just finished dictating to the staff, who all returned to their stations and readied up.

"Kirk. Put me on fleet wide. Every ship, every room."

"Aye aye sir... fleet wide... is a go. You're on."

He lifted the phone to his mouth and took a breath in, gazing at the men and women who in turn stared at him expectantly.

"Men, women. This is a day of destiny! We are about to embark on the first offensive of the second Cylon war. We did not ask for this, nor did we go looking for a fight. We are not gathered here today to slaughter the enemy mercilessly, we are here to defend out homes! Defend out right to life and freedom! Defend our families and friends! And to drive the enemy from our lands! They came here unprovoked and uninvited and we WILL.. no we MUST send them back. When you launch your vipers, your raptors, and you see a raider. Do not hesitate, this is an unfeeling and remorseless enemy. When the basestar seems crippled, continue the attack! They will not give up until they can fight no more, and that will only be when they have been rendered unto dust! And finally, I would say this. There will be casualties, there will. I am sorry for this, but those that die today will have a constant place in history, to be remembered alongside heroes of our time. So feel no woe for those who die, and feel no remorse for the enemy. Kill or be killed! Good luck! And remember the words of the Atterwick- Courage in Sacrifice! Commander Williams out." He put the phone in the receiver as the crew applauded, some muttering 'courage in sacrifice.' "so I take it that went well Corbin?" Lucas asked, suppressing a smirk.

"You're damn right it did. Now, we gonna get this show on the road?"

The commander nodded, suddenly stern faced. "Kirk, fleet wide." When Kirk gave him a nod, he raised the phone. "Set condition 1 throughout the fleet. Prepare to jump to predetermined coordinates, you all know the plan. Jump in..." he looked at Kirk who counted him down with his fingers. "5...4...3...2...1. Jump." The fleet jumped, 7 brilliant flashes of yellow in the black.

Launch tube 10

Claire was in her viper. She looked to her left, and saw the glass control room with the deck hand ready to release the airlock and send her propelled into space. She felt the ship FTL, the jarring halt. Then, vibrations rattled the hull as the cannons flared up and the flak wall ensued. The deck hand put a thumb up, and she responded with an 'ok' signal. He hit the red button and she was shunted into space, her engines powering up at the last second. Claire looked left, seeing a dozen or so vipers undertaking the same manoeuvre. Looking to her right the basestar was in front of the Atterwick trading blows. A missile penetrated the flak and blew a chunk off of the 'gator' head. She got angry now. That was her ship they were blowing up! She yanked her control column right and up hard. There were 3 other basestars. Well shit. The Atterwick turned to a broadside position and targeted the first basestar with her cannons.

"All vipers, all vipers. Prepare to engage raiders. Repel the enemy!" The comm sparked with Kirks order.

"Ok Bravo, you heard the man form up on me let's rock!" Claire spoke into her comm, as Henry rocked up to her right. The others filed up beside her and gave her a sense of security.

"Roger that Typh." Henry responded. Alright she thought. There, ahead! Raiders closing in on them. Looking at DRADIS it was clear there was 100+. Easy.

"See em? 100+. Let's screw em up!" The other wings soon engaged as well. The first raider came into cannon range, and she quickly blew it apart and used her RCS to go up and over it, then turn down and slice another one in half. She laughed to herself, almost too easy.

Atterwick hammered the first basestar, her cannons barreling into it. Paris emerged from below and fired her volleys directly into the arms of the thing, trying to cause some severe damage. Her flaks added to Atterwicks largely.

CIC

Damage reports flooded in, overwhelming the CIC temporally.

"Colonol, get me more crew on damage control and tell them to get their act together! We don't need to know everything dammit!"

"Right away sir!" He responded as he jogged over to the damage control terminal, and all but threw the ensign there out of his chair. That was one crisis averted.

"Kirk, how are our fighters doing?"

"Well sir. They're holding their own, even gained a little ground. Taken some casualties, from almost all squads. Bravo is holding together the best so far. A couple strays got through, but Paris' CAG dealt with it." He nodded. If they could just keep this up. More missiles impacted the hull, sending shockwaves through the ship and knocking Lucas the floor. He picked himself up quickly. Sparks flew out of a console on the wall, and a crewman flew through the air. 2 marines rushed to the man and checked on him.

"Get him to the doctor for fraks sake!" He shouted, pointing at the door. They responded with general grunts and rushed off, the man in hand.

"Ah bollocks!" The XO shouted. "That last salvo took out our left flight deck..." Lucas looked at him. "Sir, we can't land anybody there now. And... I don't know how deep the damage goes. The flight deck.. engineering... I'll get the damage crew there ASAP."

"Do that." He retorted. Godammit. This was turning into a real bloody mistake. He punched the table. The cavalry should arrive any minute now. It wasn't going to be soon enough he decided.

"Kirk. Prep the missile ordnance. Max yield, all tubes loaded. Target- basestar number 2, bearing 290, carom 97. Fire when ready." Kirk nodded, then spoke into a phone reciting his authorization code and the location of the ship.

"Missiles away sir! Impact in 10 seconds. "

The missile pods on the back of the ship propped up, and unloaded their payload. At first they flew straight down the length of the battlestar, but they suddenly turned left sharply and flew towards the basestar. A raider squad spotted the threat and moved to I intercept, cannons blaring purple darts through the sky. Sven flew in and dumped his missiles into the squad, followed by a cannon burst and all but murdered the entire 6 raiders. Only 1 missile was intercepted. They bit the central section of the basestar and completely tore it's heart out. The arms collapsed in, then were propelled out by the reactors explosion.

As if on cue, group 2 and 3 emerged. Smelling victory, they unleashed Hell. The destroyers poured in a dozen missiles immediately, and nuked the 4th basestar, then began the long task of reloading the missiles. The cylons were caught completely off guard. The continent class battlestars opened up, side by side, flying straight down at the enemy. They focused on number one, which was already weakened. Atterwick and Paris redoubled their efforts and, as the XO would say, kaboom. It was crippled then finished off. It's dieing act however, was to turn its nuclear ordnance on a target it was too close to for them to be shot down without damaging the ship. The Atterwick. Mere moments before it erupted into a fireball, barely 400 metres away from the Atterwick, 4 nuclear missiles bared down on the ship. Lucas was stock still. Time seemed to slow down in the CIC. Jarral stood up, and leant on the chair, mouth agape as he witnessed the 4 WMDs on DRADIS. Flak tried to take them down but they were already practically within the flak wall. They would've died if not for Paris, which, still just below Atterwick, saw the danger. Quick thinking on the commanders part, a woman by the name of Romanov Zalenko, had the frigate pull up immediately and both push the Atterwick away from itself and shield it with Paris' underbelly. It was certainty death, she'd known it. But the battlestar was worth more then a Paris class frigate, even if she had been the first of her kind. Her last words were ship wide, recovered from the black box.

"It has been an honour, men and women of Paris. Well done."

The ship was obliterated instantly, shards and fragments splintering out in all directions. Dozens of Vipers were also incinerated, and Atterwick was heavily damaged. The final basestar jumped out. It was over.

 _ **exciting stuff right? TThanks to all my fans! Appreciate the feedback! How do guys feel about this so far? Personally, I feel it's a big improvement War for Sol, I learnt a lot of lessons on that story. How was the action sequence? Clear enough described? Or not? Let me know! Thanks again! Have a lovely day, see you all soon! :)**_


	5. Chapter 4- The Only Easy Day

Chapter 4- The only easy day

The CIC was bathed in darkness. Grunting could be hear, then shouts and screams. Someone shouted for help, and screamed out in pain. A console sparked, and then blew out showering glass across the room which only added to the panic. Lucas was on his side. He could feel blood on his head and in his hair. He blinked twice, trying to see anything. Light was coming from the doorway, through the window in the bulkhead. Of course, the marines must be at sickbay with the girl he'd sent away during the fighting. He rolled onto his front, wincing as he did. His chest hurt, and his head throbbed constantly. The commander felt ahead of him with his hands, and finding the CCS table dragged himself up it to his feet. The light didn't reveal much, only casting a faint glow onto some objects. There were people picking themselves up all over the room, some were worse than others.

"Miss Hahn?" He queried. An acknowledging grunt ensued followed by a quick flurry of movement as a figure sat down in Hahns' chair.

"Report!" He asked sharply.

"Umm... well power's-" she coughed harshly. "Power's out. Looks like we're cut off from the rest of the grid." She continued, breathing heavily.

"Ok... Colonel? You still kickin'?"

"Aye sir. Still alive... just." He answered from somewhere to the left. He didn't sound well.

"Copy that, you tough bastard. See if you can get the bulkhead open, I'll work on this one." He walked over to the right hand bulkhead and looked down for the circular handle. Finding it with touch, not sight, Lucas spun it anti clockwise and with some effort unlocked it. He pulled it towards him, opening it as fully as possible. The CIC now had light at least. The scene within wasn't as bad as he'd expected, especially when Jarral opened the other door. People were picking themselves up or being picked up, but he could see at least two bodies that weren't moving.

"Ok, get the wounded down to sickbay, get those dead there as well. Everybody else we have to move to the auxiliary CIC. Come on let's go, move with a purpose. XO make sure everybody gets out, Hahn, Kirk lead on." A series of affirming grunts then movement as people were picked up and carried out, and the remainder followed Kirk and Hahn towards the rear of the ship. It was a long walk distance wise, but over within 10 minutes thanks to the jogging pace set by the XO.

The aux CIC was smaller than the main one, but tactically the same. Just less space, and only one door. Kirk and Hahn had assumed their standard positions, and the rest of the CIC crew did the same.

"Ok let's power it up." He said to the XO, and they flipped the switch on the wall, allowing power into the room screens flashed and booted up, taking a few seconds.

"This place hasn't been used since... well I don't know." Jarral said as the DRADIS scanners spooled up and flickered on over the CCS. Lucas stood by the central table and stared at DRADIS. Come on he thought. Give me some good news.

"Mr Kirk, contact report?" Kirk had his headphones half on, trying to make out any transmissions while also operating DRADIS. After flicking a few switches and other, similarly technical things, Kirk responded.

"No sir... none that I can make out. Wait one." The screen on Kirks station flashed a few times, the picture appearing and disappearing. After some tense seconds, it finally came online again. There were multiple contacts. "Sir. I am getting... 4... no 5 DRARIS contacts. Terran IFFs. Its our fleet sir. No others, other than debris of the baseships... Paris has been destroyed."

Lucas exhaled slowly and heavily.

"Get communications up NOW! I want all ships to do a jump prep. Including us, Miss Hahn. Get it done." The CIC once more burst into action as people collected reports about the ship's status, engines, FTL drive and the like. The next few minutes reports flooded into the XO and Lucas.

"Sir. Comms are up, ships reporting FTL drives spun up and ready to go. No survivors from Paris." Hahn reported. The XO patted Lucas on the shoulder.

"Nothing we coulda done. Let's get outta here." The commander nodded solemnly, and the XO straightened up and put on his order voice.

"Alright. Prep for jump back to RV point Alpha." Various stations chimed in, reporting ready for jump. "Mr Kirk, get fleet wide and count us down if you please. " Kirk nodded, and flicked some switches, picking up his intercom device.

"Fleet, prepare for jump to RV Alpha. Jumping in 5... 4... 3... 2... 1... jump." The fleet jumped,their FTL drives propelling them almost instantly to the RV point, a few hundred thousand KM away from the moon. 6 brilliant flashes of yellow in the black.

Flight deck

Ramirez was putting a fire out, that was far too close to a missile rack than she'd like. It was a part of a viper, which had been towed in twenty minutes before. There had been a weapons jam when it got hit by a raider. A technician had paid the price for trying to unjam it, and the viper was only half there now. She sprayed the fire down with an extinguisher, then threw it to the ground. Around her were similar sights, nobody was resting. People were being dragged out of their Vipers, and in some cases were being healed on the flight deck, nurses and medics crowding around them. The marine detachment was here as well, helping with the efforts. The actual battle hadn't taken that many lives- it was the Paris's destruction which did the most damage. They hadn't been ready for it, and it had exacted a heavy toll on the fighters who hadn't fallen back in time. Both hangers were essentially out of action, and the flight decks had been thrown into disarray.

Claire was helping move some debris, a metal girder which had fallen from the ceiling, and crushed a metal toolbox like it was nothing. It was lucky the damage, and especially casualties, weren't worse. She saw Ramirez standing over a piece of smouldering, twisted metal. They'd need a day off after this, if only to repair the damage. The intercom system blared into life, and Kirks voice crackles up in a jump countdown. Most of the crew still had very little what had happened. The ship jumped, a massive relief to many on the flight deck. Now they'd get the help they needed. Claire finally, with a great effort, rolled the girder off the toolbox and stood up straight, stretching her back. Time to check in on the CIC, and get a sitrep. She jogged towards the door, before running back to Ramirez.

"Hey Ramirez, when you see the chief, tell him I'm going to check in with the CIC, and talk to Lucas." Ramirez nodded in response, offering a light smile, then walked off to help a technician.

 ** _Hello again!_**

 ** _Sorry for not updating recently, been hella busy. As always, tell me what your like or don't like, and what you think in general about the story. Helps keep me motivated haha! Nah but seriously thanks for all the support and the feedback, I appreciate it all. :) Have a good day... or night... or whatever._**


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